Crypto.com Review
A balanced review of Crypto.com — its app and Exchange, Visa card program, fee transparency, security record, and regulatory standing in Canada and beyond.
Photo: Troutfarm27, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Crypto.com is a Singapore-based crypto platform founded in 2016 (originally under the name Monaco) and led by CEO Kris Marszalek. Few crypto companies have spent more on visibility: it paid a reported $700 million for 20-year naming rights to the former Staples Center in Los Angeles, now Crypto.com Arena, and has sponsored Formula 1, UFC, and the FIFA World Cup. That marketing has made it one of the most recognizable names in the industry — which makes it worth asking whether the product underneath lives up to the billboard.
What it is and how it works
Crypto.com is really several products under one brand. The main app is a beginner-friendly place to buy, sell, and hold hundreds of cryptocurrencies, with the company acting as custodian — meaning it holds your coins on your behalf rather than you controlling the keys. Power users can graduate to the separate Crypto.com Exchange, a traditional trading venue with order books and tiered maker/taker fees — separate charges for orders that add liquidity to the market versus orders that take it. The company also issues prepaid Visa cards that pay back rewards in CRO, its own token, and built Cronos, an Ethereum-compatible blockchain that uses CRO for transaction fees.
Fees: watch the spread
The Exchange publishes its fee schedule openly: base rates start around 0.25% maker and 0.50% taker, falling with higher trading volume or by locking up CRO. The app is murkier. Simple buys and sells are quoted with a spread — a markup built into the price you're shown rather than listed as a separate fee — and depending on the asset and market conditions, that hidden cost can exceed what transparent exchanges charge. The final rate appears before you confirm, but most casual users never compare it to the market price. If you use Crypto.com regularly, the Exchange is meaningfully cheaper than the app.
The card and CRO lock-ups
The Visa card has long been the flagship draw, but its history counsels caution. Better card tiers require locking up CRO for months — the top legacy tier demanded a $400,000 stake. In June 2022, Crypto.com sharply cut rewards: the free Midnight Blue tier dropped from 1% to 0%, and mid-tier cards gained monthly reward caps. In September 2025, the program was folded into "Level Up," a three-tier system (Plus, Pro, Private) accessible by monthly subscription starting at $4.99 or by CRO lock-up, plus a free Basic tier. The perks can be genuinely good, but the company has shown it will change the deal, and rewards paid in CRO fluctuate with the token's price. Customer support reviews remain mixed, a common complaint for an app this broad.
Security record
In January 2022, attackers bypassed two-factor authentication on 483 accounts and withdrew about $34 million in bitcoin, ether, and other currencies. Crypto.com fully reimbursed or blocked all affected withdrawals, rebuilt its 2FA infrastructure, and launched an account-protection program covering qualified users up to $250,000. It also publishes proof of reserves — cryptographic evidence, using a Merkle tree, that customer balances are backed by real assets — though the staleness of its third-party verification is a real weakness: the headline auditor attestation by Mazars dates to December 2022, with no newer independent attestation published since, and proof of reserves is narrower than a full audit in any case.
Regulatory standing
Crypto.com is fully available in Canada: it signed a pre-registration undertaking in 2022 and obtained restricted dealer registration across all provinces and territories in May 2025, with a full investment-dealer application in progress. In the EU, it received a MiCA license from Malta's regulator in January 2025. In the US, it sued the SEC in October 2024 over a threatened enforcement action, dropped the suit that December, and the SEC later closed its investigation without action.
Pros
- Huge all-in-one product range: app, Exchange, cards, DeFi wallet, Cronos chain
- Registered restricted dealer in Canada; MiCA-licensed in the EU
- Reimbursed users after the 2022 hack and added account protection
- Competitive Exchange fees for active traders
Cons
- Opaque spreads on simple app trades
- Card perks tied to CRO lock-ups or subscriptions, with a history of reward cuts
- Mixed customer-support reputation
- Best benefits depend heavily on holding the company's own token
Verdict
Crypto.com is a legitimate, broadly regulated platform that does many things competently and a few things expensively. Card enthusiasts and people who want everything in one app will find real value; cost-conscious traders should use the Exchange or shop elsewhere, and anyone wary of token-tied perks should skip the CRO ecosystem entirely. 3.5/5. This review is for educational purposes only and is not financial advice.
Sources
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